Hours After Lewis Hamilton’s Dismissal, F1 Champ Exposes Ferrari’s “Wrong” Philosophy

As of today, Lewis Hamilton is seatless for the 2024 Formula 1 season. The contract renewal with Mercedes isn’t budging even after months of negotiations. Updates from him or Toto Wolff are always the same and nothing major about it is revealed. Meanwhile, Ferrari who is desperately trying to get him on board, has gotten rejected. Amid all this, a Finnish F1 World Champion has exposed Ferrari’s wounds, stating them as the reason for the rejection.

Chairman of Ferrari, John Elkann personally contacted Hamilton in a bid to request him to join the Maranello outfit. Famous Italian journalist Leo Turrini said that the Briton politely declined the plea by saying “No thanks”. After this revelation, former double World Champion Mika Hakkinen reckons that Ferrari‘s main problem is their “wrong car” and their focus should be on making reparations for a better car before trying to sign a 7-time World Champion.

Hakkinen said, as quoted by Motorsport Italy, “Seeing her in action in certain corners I said to myself: ‘Oh, they have the wrong car‘. The drivers after the first outing said they had small problems, but from my point of view they were really big troubles.” [translated via Google]

Just the thought of Lewis Hamilton at the Scuderia seems odd. With the Italian team having so many issues on multiple fronts, Lewis may probably not get a better situation than his current struggles with the Silver Arrows. Ferrari needs to take Hamilton’s rejection as a sign to sort out its house as their struggles are making them lose the allure of the dream team for F1 drivers.

Read More: Ferrari Handed Dose of Humiliation for Failing to Sign Lewis Hamilton Amid Brutal Rejection

While “The Flying Finn” has nothing good to say about the SF-23, he believes that following in McLaren‘s footsteps could help solve Ferrari’s problems

Mika Hakkinen urges Ferrari to focus on McLaren’s management style to script a comeback

“That McLaren’s a rocketship,” said Lewis Hamilton on his radio after the British GP. And the MCL60 indeed is. After a brilliant turnaround post the Austrian GP, they are steadily scaling both World Championships. On the other hand, Ferrari is crumbling in the midfield. The only way for the latter to make a comeback would be to change their management, feels Hakkinen.

“But recovery is possible: what McLaren has done recently is a great example,” explained Hakkinen. “In Woking nobody pointed the finger at anyone, they worked hard. It’s the people who make the difference.”

It is indeed the people who make the difference. And in Ferrari’s case, it is the people making the important decisions that have let the team down. If major changes are taken and accountability is put on a pedestal, things might start looking up for them.

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